Hospitality Design - October 2012 - 54

perspectives
7. Views of the desert landscape from the Shingle House, located in the shadow of Dungeness power station. 8. The Shingle House’s exterior, by Scotland-based NORD, is a stark black box.

interview alain de botton

7 8

“Traveling can form some of our greatest fantasies. We lie in bed reading a travel supplement, looking at pictures of faraway places, and think, ‘Here I could be happy!’”
that in a few hours would land us in a place of which we had no memories and where no one knew our names. How pleasant to hold in mind, when lassitude and despair threaten, that there is always a plane taking o for somewhere else. guidebooks on travel, actually asks what the point might be—and modestly suggests how we could learn to be happier on our journeys.

You have said that travel experience is somewhat dictated by who we are with. Is it easier to find enjoyment solo?

Traveling can form some of our greatest fantasies. We lie in bed reading a travel supplement, looking at pictures of faraway places, and think, ‘Here I could be happy!’ But the reality of travel seldom matches our daydreams. The tragi-comic disappointments are well known: the disorientation, mid-a ernoon despair, lethargy before ancient ruins. And yet the reasons behind such disappointments are rarely explored. We are inundated with advice on where to travel. We hear li le of why we should go and how we could be more ful lled doing so. My book, The Art of Travel, is an a empt to tackle the curious business of traveling—why do we do it? What are we trying to get out of it? In a series of essays I write about airports, landscapes, museums, holiday romances, photographs, exotic carpets, and the contents of hotel minibars. I mix my own thoughts with those of some great gures of the past: Edward Hopper, Baudelaire, Wordsworth, Van Gogh, and Ruskin among them. The result is a work which, unlike existing

Can things like a well-designed piece of furniture really make us happy?

I enjoy places like airports and train stations. Do you have a favorite transit activity?

I have long been a racted to service stations and motels, airports and train stations, harbors and diners; perhaps because, in spite of their architectural limitations and discomforts, their garish colors and harsh lighting, these melancholy places seem to o er an escape from habit and the false fellowship of ordinary life. Nowhere is the appeal of airports more concentrated than in television screens, which hang in rows from terminal ceilings announcing the departures and arrivals of ights. The constant calls suggest with what ease our seemingly entrenched lives might be altered were we to walk down a corridor and on to an aircra

Beauty has a huge role to play in altering our mood. When we call a chair or a house beautiful, really what we’re saying is that we like the way of life it’s suggesting to us. It has an a itude we’re a racted to. If it was magically turned into a person, we’d like who it was. This helps to explain our passionate feelings towards ma ers of architecture and home decoration: these things help to decide who we are. One might say that architecture suggests a mood to us. Its e ectiveness could be compared to the weather. A ne day can substantially change our state of mind. Then again, under the weight of su cient problems, no amount of blue sky, and not even the greatest building, will be able to make us smile. hd
To read t he compl ete i n terv i ew, l o g o n to hospit al it yde sign. co m

054

October 2012 hospitalitydesign.com


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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Hospitality Design - October 2012

Hospitality Design - October 2012
Contents
Online TOC
From the Editor
From the Show Director
From the Guest Editor
Perspectives
Sketchbook
Self Portrait of a Nomad
Places: New York
Interview: Barry Sternlicht
Interview: Richard Branson
Interview: Alain De Botton
5 Questions for Gary Chang
Products
Profile: Stephen Burks
Best of Boutique
Lighting
Clodagh’s Choice
Project Deconstructed: Miraval
Projects
Downtown Mexico
Fasano Boa Vista
Four Seasons Guangzhou
B2 Boutique Hotel + Spa
J Hotel
Ad Index
Back Space
Hospitality Design - October 2012 - Intro
Hospitality Design - October 2012 - Hospitality Design - October 2012
Hospitality Design - October 2012 - Cover2
Hospitality Design - October 2012 - 1
Hospitality Design - October 2012 - 2
Hospitality Design - October 2012 - 3
Hospitality Design - October 2012 - 4
Hospitality Design - October 2012 - 5
Hospitality Design - October 2012 - 6
Hospitality Design - October 2012 - 7
Hospitality Design - October 2012 - 8
Hospitality Design - October 2012 - Contents
Hospitality Design - October 2012 - 10
Hospitality Design - October 2012 - Online TOC
Hospitality Design - October 2012 - 12
Hospitality Design - October 2012 - 13
Hospitality Design - October 2012 - From the Editor
Hospitality Design - October 2012 - 15
Hospitality Design - October 2012 - From the Show Director
Hospitality Design - October 2012 - 17
Hospitality Design - October 2012 - From the Guest Editor
Hospitality Design - October 2012 - 19
Hospitality Design - October 2012 - 20
Hospitality Design - October 2012 - 21
Hospitality Design - October 2012 - 22
Hospitality Design - October 2012 - Perspectives
Hospitality Design - October 2012 - 24
Hospitality Design - October 2012 - Sketchbook
Hospitality Design - October 2012 - 26
Hospitality Design - October 2012 - 27
Hospitality Design - October 2012 - 28
Hospitality Design - October 2012 - 29
Hospitality Design - October 2012 - 30
Hospitality Design - October 2012 - 31
Hospitality Design - October 2012 - 32
Hospitality Design - October 2012 - 33
Hospitality Design - October 2012 - 34
Hospitality Design - October 2012 - Self Portrait of a Nomad
Hospitality Design - October 2012 - 36
Hospitality Design - October 2012 - 37
Hospitality Design - October 2012 - 38
Hospitality Design - October 2012 - Places: New York
Hospitality Design - October 2012 - 40
Hospitality Design - October 2012 - 41
Hospitality Design - October 2012 - 42
Hospitality Design - October 2012 - 43
Hospitality Design - October 2012 - Interview: Barry Sternlicht
Hospitality Design - October 2012 - 45
Hospitality Design - October 2012 - 46
Hospitality Design - October 2012 - 47
Hospitality Design - October 2012 - Interview: Richard Branson
Hospitality Design - October 2012 - 49
Hospitality Design - October 2012 - 50
Hospitality Design - October 2012 - 51
Hospitality Design - October 2012 - Interview: Alain De Botton
Hospitality Design - October 2012 - 53
Hospitality Design - October 2012 - 54
Hospitality Design - October 2012 - 55
Hospitality Design - October 2012 - 5 Questions for Gary Chang
Hospitality Design - October 2012 - 57
Hospitality Design - October 2012 - 58
Hospitality Design - October 2012 - Products
Hospitality Design - October 2012 - 60
Hospitality Design - October 2012 - Profile: Stephen Burks
Hospitality Design - October 2012 - 62
Hospitality Design - October 2012 - Best of Boutique
Hospitality Design - October 2012 - 64
Hospitality Design - October 2012 - 65
Hospitality Design - October 2012 - 66
Hospitality Design - October 2012 - Lighting
Hospitality Design - October 2012 - 68
Hospitality Design - October 2012 - 69
Hospitality Design - October 2012 - 70
Hospitality Design - October 2012 - 71
Hospitality Design - October 2012 - 72
Hospitality Design - October 2012 - 73
Hospitality Design - October 2012 - 74
Hospitality Design - October 2012 - Clodagh’s Choice
Hospitality Design - October 2012 - 76
Hospitality Design - October 2012 - 77
Hospitality Design - October 2012 - 78
Hospitality Design - October 2012 - 79
Hospitality Design - October 2012 - 80
Hospitality Design - October 2012 - 81
Hospitality Design - October 2012 - 82
Hospitality Design - October 2012 - 83
Hospitality Design - October 2012 - 84
Hospitality Design - October 2012 - 85
Hospitality Design - October 2012 - 86
Hospitality Design - October 2012 - Project Deconstructed: Miraval
Hospitality Design - October 2012 - 88
Hospitality Design - October 2012 - 89
Hospitality Design - October 2012 - 90
Hospitality Design - October 2012 - Projects
Hospitality Design - October 2012 - Downtown Mexico
Hospitality Design - October 2012 - 93
Hospitality Design - October 2012 - 94
Hospitality Design - October 2012 - 95
Hospitality Design - October 2012 - Fasano Boa Vista
Hospitality Design - October 2012 - 97
Hospitality Design - October 2012 - 98
Hospitality Design - October 2012 - 99
Hospitality Design - October 2012 - Four Seasons Guangzhou
Hospitality Design - October 2012 - 101
Hospitality Design - October 2012 - 102
Hospitality Design - October 2012 - 103
Hospitality Design - October 2012 - B2 Boutique Hotel + Spa
Hospitality Design - October 2012 - 105
Hospitality Design - October 2012 - 106
Hospitality Design - October 2012 - 107
Hospitality Design - October 2012 - J Hotel
Hospitality Design - October 2012 - 109
Hospitality Design - October 2012 - 110
Hospitality Design - October 2012 - 111
Hospitality Design - October 2012 - 112
Hospitality Design - October 2012 - 113
Hospitality Design - October 2012 - 114
Hospitality Design - October 2012 - 115
Hospitality Design - October 2012 - 116
Hospitality Design - October 2012 - 117
Hospitality Design - October 2012 - Ad Index
Hospitality Design - October 2012 - 119
Hospitality Design - October 2012 - Back Space
Hospitality Design - October 2012 - Cover3
Hospitality Design - October 2012 - Cover4
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